Debt payoff strategy: selling your stuff

By Emma Lunn

If you have piles of
debt, you might be able to dig yourself out by selling the piles of stuff you have
around the house. In fact, those piles of stuff may be the reason you got into
debt in the first place.

Yet being a successful
salesperson requires time and effort. Here are some tips for getting the most
money for the things you don't need.

Where to sell
A number of websites
can help you make money by selling your possessions. eBay is arguably the best
known site and sells items through auctions. Other sites include Amazon and Gumtree, while a handful of niche sites
concentrate on books, games and music.

"Consider
using different sites for different things," says Jasmine Birtles, a financial
expert and editor of Moneymagpie.com. She's written a number of articles
about eBay and also uses the site regularly herself. "Amazon is good
for books, CDs and DVDs, Gumtree is good for bulky items that people need to
collect and for giving away things for free, and eBay is good for a whole
variety of things including even broken goods."

For the uninitiated, although
eBay is an auction site, there is also a "buy it now" option if you're after a
quick sale. To sell items, you'll need to set up an eBay
account with a user name and password. To sell things, you'll need to enter
some extra information, including your debit or credit card details for
verification purposes.

Once your account is
up and running, you can list items for sale either though auction or "buy it
now." Then sit back and watch the
money come rolling in.

Insider tips
Birtles has sold a
slew of items on eBay -- decorative door handles, a printer, a few pairs of
shoes, several books, CDs, DVDs and a full set of motorcycle gear among them.
The rewards? Making extra money and freeing
up space in her home. The biggest challenges? Pricing the items and
figuring out postage and packing costs.

How you list an item can
make a big difference in the interest the listing generates and the amount of
money you get. Make sure you upload a
picture and provide a full description of the product. The title of your
listing should be a term buyers would search if they wanted to find your item.

Before the auction starts, you'll need to
decide on a starting price. If you're happy to start the bidding low -- to
attract buyers -- but want to make sure it reaches a certain amount, some sites
let you set a "reserve price" to protect the item. The reserve price is the
lowest price the item will sell for.

Before setting your
price, Birtles recommends researching similar goods to find out what other sellers are
charging. If you're new to online sales,
you can also get an idea of a reasonable price for postage and packing by checking
others' listings.

Once
the item is sold, your work isn't done. You'll want to do all you can to improve
your rating -- which will make people more willing to buy from you in the
future. Wrapping things safely and nicely is a good move, and it can be nice to
enclose a card or note to the buyer. On eBay, both buyers and sellers can send and receive feedback, and some users
prefer to do business only with people with positive feedback. So, if you want to
become a successful seller, it can be a good tactic to buy some items first and
ask the seller to post some good feedback about you.

As
you get more comfortable with selling goods online, don't forget to be wary of
those eager to take
advantage of you, Birtles warns.

"There
are a lot of scammers on the internet and they particularly circle around these
social selling sites," she says. "You have to have your wits about
you."

If
you sell goods online regularly, it's also a good idea to check your tax
situation. The tax office won't be interested in you if you just sell the odd
thing here and there. But if you are effectively running a business, you might
owe taxes on your income.

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